


More than One Way to get a Bad Ending

by 707irl



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Absolutely legit, Attempted Kidnapping, Bad endings, Custom Bad Ending, Custom MC, Elevator boy, F/M, Flirting, Foreign exchange college student (not really), Hacker, He’s totally not creepy, I’ll treat you well, Looking for the owner of a lost phone, Mission Failure, Mysterious Messages, Mystic Messenger - Freeform, MysticMessenger, No to RFA Yes to Unknown, Not at all suspicious, Please help him out, RFA mentioned briefly, Texts from Unknown, Threats, Unknown | Mystic Messenger, UnknownxMC, You’re coming with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-27 06:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21387409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/707irl/pseuds/707irl
Summary: Co-written with skele8rity on tumblr.
Relationships: original character/unknown
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	More than One Way to get a Bad Ending

**Unknown: **It'll be really fun from now on. Enjoy your time with everyone. I'll go get you soon.

**Red: **...fun? I didn’t come here for fun. I came here because you said someone lost their phone. So what’s up with all this nonsense? 

**Red: **And what do you mean you’ll _come get me?_ Do you honestly think I plan to stick around until you’re back in town? lol

**Red: **... Ignore me if you want, mystery boy. I’m not sticking around here though.

**Unknown: **You're not?

**Red: **That’s what I said, isn’t it?

**Unknown: **Were you lying this whole time about agreeing to help me...?

**Red: **What!

**Red: **You’re the one lying to me!

**Red: **Lost phone... what a load of BS. _How dare you_ call me a liar.

**Unknown: **Hahaha.

**Red: **You didn’t say anything about this club of people.. or Rika.

**Unknown: **You've already come so far.

**Unknown: **Aren't you.. even a little curious of what's to come?

**Red: **No.

**Red: **I don’t want anything to do that RFA group…

**Red: **I was curious about you. But now I’m ;; just irritated. So, later.

**Unknown: **Red ^^

**Unknown: **Are you sure you want to back out now....?

**Red: **Don’t ask me if I’m sure.

**Red: **I don’t say things I don’t mean.

**Red: **Unlike SOME people >_>

**Unknown: **That's a shame.

**Unknown: **A place to stay...

**Unknown: **A chance to do something meaningful…

**Unknown: **These are things most people would have leaped for.

**Red: **...I’m not most people.

**Red: **What do you _actually_ want?

**Unknown: **I already told you. I want your help.

**Unknown: **But if you're not willing to play..

**Unknown: **I already know where you are ^^

**Red: **You didn’t tell me shit!

**Red: **_Oh_ I need to find the owner of a lost phone! They must be _so worried!!!_ >_>

**Red: **That’s _not_ what’s going on. So why do you _really_ want me at that apartment?

**Unknown: **Hmm...

**Unknown: **A test of compassion?

**Unknown: **You help me out, I help you. That's ideal, isn't it?

**Unknown: **Wouldn't it be pleasant

**Unknown: **If it were really so easy...

**Unknown: **As you turning back around?

**Red: **You’re speaking in riddles and it’s annoying. I already came here to help you out.

**Red: **I didn’t ask for anything in return from you.

  
  


Red steps out the apartment door, texting this _ annoyingly _ cryptic man while heading towards the elevator. Her eyes on the phone screen as she walks. 

Someone's waiting for her in the elevator when the doors slide open, blocking the entry.

Face covered, a cell phone up as though he's casually texting, but his eyes are up and locked on Red like a predator.

“Excuse me,” she crosses her arms. “I kinda need to get on the elevator. Could you...?”

She sounds exasperated, but doesn’t look directly at him.

“You know what? Never mind,” she turns to the stairs, avoiding an argument with Elevator Boy. He can keep the damn thing to himself, if he really wants to.

"Red."

His voice comes forth as confidently as the arm he outstretches to snag her by her shoulder, pulling her back to him.

"Sorry, but I can't let you leave like this."

His relaxed tone contrasts starkly with the attention-grabbing grip he has on her, pinning her against the wall with surprising force.

"It's dangerous, you know? All sorts of people you don't want to run into."

“Do I know you..?” She’s certain there’s no one in Korea she owes money to. There’s no one she’s close to, either, so it’s not like anyone holds a grudge. 

Her heart rate makes it difficult to breathe; difficult to _ think _ . She should be scared, but _ god _, she’s illogical. Since rather than feeling scared of the strange, pretty boy pressing her against the wall, she feels drawn to him. Averting her eyes from his, she keeps her voice as even as possible, hoping he doesn’t notice how hot her cheeks are. 

“Why are you trying to stop me?” It feels like she should know, but her brain is too filled with too much fog right now to find the answer.

"Not really, but that doesn't matter. You came too far."

Sometime while pushing her against the wall, he pocketed his phone, as his now-free hand comes up to barely ghost against her face to have her look back up into his. Bright green eyes burn with a serious, but curious gaze as he continues.

"You came too far and now I have to do something about it. I'm sorry."

The hand he's coaxed her face with trails down to her shoulder, to her arm with surprising delicacy.

"But it would be a shame to get rid of you. You're so cute and decisive. What should I do?"

It doesn't sound much like an inquiry so much as it does open pondering.

His words are lost when he touches her face. She unwillingly meets his eyes, becoming more entranced by the second. His touch, his closeness, hi- wait, get rid of her? Cute and decisive... no, she can’t get distracted by that part. 

Shaking her head, she looks to the side as she speaks.

“What do you mean, _ get rid of?” _ Everything about this situation is screaming at her that she needs to escape. Now. But her feet stay still below her.

A high, quiet chuckle snakes its way to her ears.

"You're going to come with me, now. Don't worry. If you make it easy, I promise I'll treat you well."

He tilts his head to the direction she's turned her own, still looking her in the eyes. He knows she can see him in her peripheral, and the tinge of warning in his tone comes with a chill. _ I s he somehow closer? _

"You can still be happy you came all this way. And you can help me all the same. What do you say...?"

“Come with you?” His threatening words give her the urge to reject him, if for no other reason than to see the look on that pretty face of his when she refuses. Oh, but he intrigues her too much to take the risk of never seeing him again. That doesn’t mean she’ll make things easy for him. As if she’s going to simply hand herself over to this boy she just met. “What makes you think I’ll come with you?”

One would know he's smiling under that mask merely from the way his cheeks push the corners of his eyes up the tiniest bit.

He leans himself back to look at her, eyes widened with the excitement he tries so hard to suppress.

"I _know_ you'll come with me..."

He adjusts his grip on her, making sure that he's still in her space enough to be imposing, but letting his hands explore a bit.

As he speaks, he runs his hands down her arms to smooth the folds on her jacket sleeves in an oddly intimate way, eyes flicking down to survey his actions.

"Just like I know you don't have anywhere else you're tied down to..."

He fixes the way her hoodie sits on her shoulders, tilting his head.

"And like I know there's nobody here who'd know to look for you. You walked away from your best chance for that just now..."

He clips her zipper into place, zipping it up slowly and amusedly before bringing his hands up to her shoulders symmetrically.

"I know a lot of things about you, Princess.

And you should've known better than to talk to strange people, on strange apps...

Because you know I'm going to do whatever I want now, right...?"

Her first reaction is pure disbelief. He knows she’ll go with him? _ Please. _

Though the rhythm of her heart increases with his next words. 

She’s frozen as he straightens her jacket. Zips it up. 

Shit. Breathe. She closes her eyes, her jaw clenched and her fist held tight. Her body’s trembling, but she needs to keep it together. One more deep breath before opening her eyes to meet his head on. 

“Listen here, pretty boy. I don’t know how you know so much about me, but that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want with me, got it?” She smacks his hands away, but doesn’t try to leave.

"'Pretty boy'...?"

There's something of another amused chuckle as he quietly repeats her comment, and he seems about to say something before she slaps his hands away. As she does, he twitches a bit, and there's a mildly terrifying moment of reflexes as though he's about to snag her again, more violently, more thoughtlessly...

But he catches himself just as quick as he realizes she's not going anywhere, and the moment fades like a ghost.

"Look at you, saying such big words while you're shaking like a leaf.

You hardly even know where you are, or what you're doing here. Isn't that right?"

He steps back a bit, taking a bit of the suffocation with him as he takes his own breath in...

And if she's still standing strong, resolving to look straight into his eyes, he'll look straight back unperturbed.

"Aren't you sick of feeling that way? Like you have no control? You're like me. You're fighting so hard to get a grip, aren't you...? Red..."

Yeah, her body’s shaking, alright. There’s nothing she can do to stop that. As much as it humiliates and frustrates her, she doesn’t let it keep her from standing her ground. 

She sure doesn’t miss the fact that he takes a step back. Why? He had been all in her space a moment ago. 

Ah, but he’s mistaken. She’s not tired of anything. She’s free. In control of her own life, even if it means sleeping on the street. It’s better than being controlled and abused. 

Grinning slyly, she steps towards him. 

“Like you?” She asks sweetly. “Are you saying you feel out of control? Hm?”

_ Interesting. _

This is definitely the first time that, whenever he's given someone a little room to breathe, they've closed the distance back up. That this woman isn't interesting would be the biggest lie he's told all day, and he sure ain't no foreign exchange student coming back to Korea.

His eyebrows raise a bit at her bold rebuttal, but he isn't so thoroughly phased as she may hope he is, punctuated by the much more... morbidly genuine laugh that bubbles its way out of his throat.

"Wow... You really are something, aren't you? Haha..."

Eyes narrowing, her head tilts as the boy laughs, her grin still held in place. She's not so easily intimidated. 

A hand comes up to tug playfully, teasingly on her hood's drawstrings while a darkness falls over the man's expression.

"No... they wouldn't deserve you, anyway. You're worth so much more than they can imagine..."

His sudden, playful grip on the strings of her jacket catch her by surprise. Eyes widening, her grin falters as she bites her lip. He's drawing her in again, until something he says lights a bulb in her mind, snapping her out of it. 

This is the same guy that's been texting her. How could she be so stupid? He must have followed her the whole way here. With everything else he knows, maybe longer. 

She's not going to give away the fact that she _ just now _ realized this information. At first, she'd suspected he could be lying about being "abroad," but didn't imagine this scenario. 

It's not super clear how he sneaks in so close again. Whether he leans in or just inches closer. However it happens, it’s as silent as it is sudden, and the grip on her drawstrings isn't as playful as it was a second ago.

The tightened grip on her strings cause her to gasp before she can stop herself. She's certain by the change in his expression and body language that he's trying to intimidate her. Again. That's not what's happening, though from his point of view, it may appear that way. 

"But the clock is ticking, Princess. And you don't get to play games with me. Are you coming with me easy, or are you coming with a fight? Because in this situation, you've already lost. I promise I'm not lying about _ that. _"

There he goes thinking he can tell her what to do. How funny.

"If we're not playing a game, then I haven't lost anything," a devilish expression lights up her face before she hooks her finger into his collar, tugging his face closer. "**Stop trying to threaten me.** If you want me to go with you, _ ask me. _ Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do."

There's a lot of information that he's trying to process at once. His charge here, his actions, her responses, how the RFA must be dealing with their surreal ding-dong-ditch scenario, how fast that _redhead_ figures out how to take a peek around the area; when she decides she has the _audacity_ to hook and tug him back. His temper sparks like a coughing lighter; not quite ablaze, but enough of a strike to see a flash. It happens just as fast that his hand collides with her wrist quick and hard enough to make a sound, gripping harder than he means to.

"_Ask_... you....?" His eyes lock with hers in one white-hot millisecond of accusatory offense at surprising him, but it's gone just as quick... What takes it's place instead is a sickly morbid curiosity at the sorts of things this woman says, what she does, and with it the tension in his grip melts away. Little by little, things are clicking. "... Of course. How childish. I got so excited you're here, I'm acting like some playground bully. Isn't that right? That act's been bled dry." He should be embarrassed. But having her up close like this... He can't think of anyone whose ever held so steady like this before. His being excited isn't a lie- this is fascinating. Exhilarating, even. There are grown men who'd pale at just a few parlor tricks with their personal info. He takes a deep breath and sighs it out, doing his best to unfray his nerves. This isn't the time to be treating things like amateur hour. She's not just anyone... that's right.

"No... If this were a game like you said, you'd be excelling." He runs his hand apologetically across the wrist he snatched away just a moment before, soothingly pressing his thumb in small circles on her skin. "I owe you an apology, and an invitation. What do you think?

The strike to her wrist isn’t enough to hurt her. Nor does this man scare her, but the impact sends a flood of panic through her body. Suddenly her mind is in the past when she was helpless and afraid. A few shaky breaths with closed eyes brings her back in time to hear him.. _apologize?_ Eyes now open, they wander to where his thumb presses circles into her wrist. She doesn’t need to run or fight. Everything’s fine.

“Where are we going?” She asks, voice quiet with pink cheeks.

Behind that mask, his mouth has curved into quite the grin. He brings his other hand up slowly enough that she can see where he's going with it, pushing some of her hair out of her face with similar intimacy as he had when he was straightening her jacket.

"To Paradise..." Tucking a lock behind her ear, his hand continues it's motion to stroke her cheek, going down to the crook of her neck, resting reassuringly there. His other hand stops rubbing little circles to slide his palm under hers with his offer. He looks softly at her, examining her face as he goes. "If you'd let me."

What is stability? She's about to float away or fall into his arms, not sure at this point. No one's ever touched her so tenderly. It takes considerable effort not to simply melt into him. To instead, keep a clear head.

"What do you mean by Paradise?"

"Just what I say, princess." If you look closely, maybe you can notice the subtle reminisce in his eyes as he recalls this so-called Paradise. "A place full of hopes and dreams where everyone is happy. A Magenta of happiness. They say that things that sound too good to be true usually are... But they also say there are exceptions to the rule. This is one such place. You can take my word for it."

It looks like he truly believes what he says, even if it sounds absurd.

“Okay. I’ll let you,” she smiles playfully, maneuvering her hand to lace her fingers with his.

Curiouser and curiouser, this woman. Her actions could easily be criticized for being reckless, but the boldness with which she acts- the way she twines her fingers in with his despite _everything_ that makes this situation absurd- it adds to the allure she's had since he chose her. A bold move the man in front of her cooperates with surprisingly easily, lithe fingers wrapping around her hand presently. And with it, he begins to pull away backwards, a slow suggestion towards the elevator.

"Yes... That's right. We'll get there together. Thank you for accepting." She abandoned the RFA nearly on contact... But she's agreeing to come with him now? He's wary, but he's also fairly certain she's serious. The hope that she finds him more interesting than that den of liars laces through his mind surreptitiously, subconsciously making this moment so much more... _exhilarating._ Of course this would be the choice she'd make. He almost feels bad he considered throwing her in with that lot in the first place.


End file.
